Introduction of elementary science in kindergarten through a didactic game

Igra in gibanje sta primarni potrebi otrok, kar moramo upoštevati tudi pri načrtovanju dejavnosti v vrtcu. Za predšolske otroke je najboljše aktivno učenje, ki ga v največji meri dosežemo z igro in gibalnimi dejavnostmi. Igra in gibanje predstavljata nekakšno vez z ostalimi kurikularnimi področji, zato naj bosta ti dve komponenti vključeni v vsakdan otrokovega življenja v vrtcu. Otrok se igra in je gibalno aktiven zaradi lastne želje po tem, zato se sploh ne zaveda, da se ob tem uči. Na podlagi ugotovitev o pomembnosti igre in gibanja v predšolskem obdobju sem oblikovala didaktično igro. Njena vsebina je naravoslovna, zato je v teoretičnem delu poleg igre in gibanja opredeljeno tudi področje narave ter pomen začetnega naravoslovja v vrtcu. Sledi predstavitev glavnih skupin vretenčarjev in nekaj splošnega o sistematiki živih bitij, saj se otroci z igro učijo o značilnostih živali. V zadnjem poglavju teoretičnega dela pa so opisani predstave predšolskih otrok o taksonomiji živali, zakonitosti razvoja na kognitivnem področju, vpliv vključevanja živali v dejavnosti in vloga vzgojitelja pri tem. Moja didaktična igra Živster izhaja iz igre Twister. Preizkusila sem jo v skupini predšolskih otrok drugega starostnega obdobja. Glavni namen diplomskega dela je bil ugotoviti, ali igra vpliva na spremembo v znanju o telesnih značilnostih živali. Otroci so bili intervjuvani pred igranjem igre in po njem, nato pa sem primerjala njihove odgovore. Izkazalo se je, da je imela igra pomemben vpliv na poznavanje telesnih značilnosti živali in poimenovanje živali.Play and movement are the primary needs of children, which must also be considered when planning activities in kindergarten. For pre-school children, the best thing is active learning, which is usually achieved through play and physical activities. Play and movement are a kind of link to other curriculum areas, so these two components should be included in a child\u27s daily routine in kindergarten. The child is playing and being physically active because of their own desire to do so, so they are not even aware that they are learning at the same time. Based on my findings about the importance of play and movement in preschool, I have developed a didactic game. The content is naturalistic, i.e. besides play and movement, the theoretical part defines the field of nature and the importance of elementary science in kindergarten. This is followed by an introduction to the main groups of vertebrates and some general information about the systematics of living beings, as the children learn about the characteristics of animals through my didactic game. The last chapter of the theoretical part describes the pre-schoolers’ ideas about the taxonomy of animals, the laws of cognitive development, the implications of including animals in activities and the role of the kindergarten teacher in this. My didactic game Živster is based on the game Twister. I tested it with a group of pre-school children in the second age group. The main aim of my thesis was to find out whether the game influences the change of knowledge about the physical characteristics of animals. The children were interviewed before and after playing the game, and then I compared their responses. The game was found to have a significant effect on knowledge about the physical characteristics of animals and naming animals